Familiar Getaway
by Mega-Erofan
Summary: Matjiga feels trapped by the power Thanos and his men have over her, suffocating under their will with no hope of escape. While being transported to a new planet under the titan's rule, her ship is attacked and her hope for escape is rekindled, but to what end?


Matjiga quietly sighs as she stares out into the vastness of the galaxies that seem so far away now, pressing a paw against the glass of the window in a vain hope to come closer to them somehow. She knows she can't simply phase through matter and space, she would've been anywhere else right now if she could. She continues staring into the stars until she notices something in the corner of his vision but when she turns to look, the room violently tremors then tilts back sharply. She scrambles to latch onto something but her claws drag against the smooth metal of the windowsill as she falls to the floor, covering her ears in response to the hellish screech. Red lights begin lighting up her room as an alarm echoes against the metal walls. She manages to climb to her feet and stumbles to her door, finding it easily opening to let her step out into the hall. She's dazed for a moment until she hears someone running and braces herself against the wall, several soldiers rushing past her towards the navigation bay.

"What's going on? Are we being attacked?" She looks around, ensuring no one else has noticed her then hurries down the hall towards the escape pods. "This might be my chance to finally get away. With everyone distracted, I can finally slip away and just vanish, never to see that bastard again." She turns a sharp corner to the escape bay but runs into someone, being knocked to the ground as she bounces off the other. When she looks up, she's frozen in place by the vivid green eyes that seem to comb over her body like the claws of a wild beast. She thought Thanos was terrible but the titan was unaware that one of his own men was much worse without ever laying a finger on her, at least not rough enough to leave bruises like he did. The dark-skinned alien humanoid grabs Matjiga by the front of her black and purple dress, pulling her to her feet and uncomfortably close to his face.

"It seems the little Scarlet Dream was trying to slip away from us." His voice purrs with a heavy deep accent that sends unpleasant chills down her spine.

"Let me go, Grie." Matjiga orders. "I was making my way to the escape pods as I know to do when the alarm goes off. I'm a non-combatant, so my only priority is getting to the escape shuttles."

"Without an escort?" Grie teases.

"In situations of attack or rioting, non-combatants are able to load onto the escape shuttles on their own and leave if all potential guards are preoccupied." She explains. "I know ship protocols as well as you do."

"I never doubted that, Little Scarlet," Grie chuckles "but I do know that if a soldier does find a non-combatant wandering in the halls during an emergency, it is his obligation to escort them to the escape shuttle." He starts guiding her by the arm, causing her to stumble as she struggles to keep up.

"So much for my flawless escape." Matjiga huffs to herself. "I need to get away from this asshole before I end up in a worse situation than I was with Thanos." She looks around her in search of any means to fight back but finds the pods quickly approaching. Grie roughly pulls her to his side as he accesses one of the doors to the escape pods and the tiger finds something digging into her hip. She glances down to find the man's pistol, completely accessible to her if she could only get a hold of it. She looks up to find the other still distracted then quickly grabs the pistol and puts it against the other's head. "Let me go and I won't blow your brains across the floor."

Grie slowly glances towards the girl, a smug smirk tugging at his lips as his grip on her arm tightens. "You're really going to try this?"

"If it gets me as far away from you and him as possible, then yes."

"You don't have the guts, little dream." The male alien chuckles, then slowly bends the arm in his hand back, causing Matjiga to cry out but her aim remains on him. He calmly taps the black band on the wrist he holds. "You've been nothing but a coward since we put these cuffs on you. You never like getting blood on your hands after all, relying on your powers to get your hits from a distance. You did so when you were the traitor's playmate, so what changes it now?"

Matjiga growls and looks around, ensuring no one is around, then looks back at the other. "Well, Grie, there's two things wrong with your statement. One: I'm no coward when it comes to anyone. You and that bastard you call a leader forced me into this and if I had my powers, I'd split you in two from the crotch up. And two: It's not that I hated blood, it was just a bitch to get out of my uniform. Have you ever tried to clean blood from a blue jumpsuit? It's impossible some days but as for this dress, I give no fucks." She aims into the crook of the arm holding her and fires, causing the other to let go and allowing the tiger to flee into the hall and scamper down the hall to the ship dock. "That didn't go as planned. Maybe I can hi-jack one of the ships and fly out of here." She stumbles her way to the doorway of the dock, finding most of the ships destroyed aside from one that sticks out, a vibrant orange and blue ship parked in the middle of the dock. "Damn, someone went to town on all these ships and has no taste in stealthy color palettes. How horrifyingly repulsive. It's not exactly my dream ride but if it can fly, I'll take it." She moves to approach the vessel but feels the floor suddenly tilt under her, slamming her against the metal and stunning her for a moment. She slowly climbs to her feet, the pistol still gripped in her hand, when someone tackles her from behind. The two roll across the floor until Matjiga is pinned to the ground, finding Grie looming above her with his long turquoise hair hanging wildly around his face.

"That was a cheeky move there, Scarlet, but I like my girls feisty. It keeps things interesting."

"I'm not your girl!" The tiger growls. "I'm no one's girl, sick fuck!" She headbutts the other but quickly finds her head grabbed and slammed against the floor, dazing her as the same hand clamps onto her throat and slowly squeezes. She struggles to break free, her legs kicking at the other with little progress as her vision begins to go dark.

"Don't worry, Scarlet." A dark chuckle whispers in her ear. "I'll make sure to take proper care of you once we're away from here. Until then, just sleep."

Matjiga feels the world fade away around her until the presence over her is yanked off, allowing her to breathe again as air stings her lungs. She sits up as her coughing fit settles, surprised by who she finds standing between her and her assaulter. He reminds her of an old friend but his skin is brownish-gray with stark red tattoos accenting every visible muscle of the bare upper body of her hero. He stands tall between her and Grie as he brandishes two knives that look much like the ones warriors used in her childhood home but made from steel instead of bone. As she stares at him from behind, she has flashes of someone familiar as the skin shifts to blue protected with black armor and the daggers are replaced with a large hammer before returning to the original view. She almost tears up at the uncanny resemblance to her mentor.

"Who do you think you are getting between my Scarlet Dream and I?" Grie growls.

"A man with more honor than you, Kroz scum." The other states then charges with a mighty battle cry. The two men skirmish for a time with Grie stepping away from the swings of the other and throwing punches of his own until the ship violently shifts again, sending him flying towards the other. The man takes advantage of the opening, burying his knife into Grie's side then twisting and kicking the man off his blade. The other charges again but receives a slash across his face before being roughly shouldered into a pile of ship scraps. He nods and sheathes his knives before approaching Matjiga as she struggles to stand. He catches her when she nearly falls, letting her brace her hands against his chest as she looks up at him, meeting the gaze of vibrant blue eyes. "Are you alright?"

Matjiga shakes out of her trance then lets her head fall as she speaks, her blood red bangs hiding her face. "Y-yes, I'm fine. Thank you for getting that creep off me."

"It's no trouble." The warrior chuckles. "A noble warrior always assists a woman in distress, but what's a woman like you doing on one of Thanos's ships?"

The tiger's ears fold back at the mention of the titan's name as her body involuntarily begins to shake. She looks up at the other with teary yellow eyes. "Let's just say I'm one of his…treasures."

"Treasures? You're no object, you're a living being."

"That's not what Thanos thinks of me."

"What do you mean"

The other is interrupted by the sound of gunfire and yelling as a voice rings out from behind him. The tiger looks over his shoulder to find a strange trio approaching the two consisting of two humanoids and a small furry rodent that Matjiga doesn't recognize. "Drax, c'mon, we gotta get out of here before this place blows." The raccoon yells as the group approaches then comes to a halt when he notices the tiger. "Um, who's the girl? Are you really hooking up in the middle of a battle?"

"No time now, Rocket." The male human states as he grabs the raccoon and hurries to the ship. "Let's go, Drax, and bring your lady friend with you!"

Drax glances towards Matjiga, inquiring her permission without words. The tiger is hesitant until she notices the eyes before her shifting from ocean blues to cosmic purple for a spilt second. Her own eyes seem to glow for a moment before her gives a nod. The two hurry to the ship as it begins to start up, Matjiga almost tripping when the ship trembles again but is caught by Drax and shifted to his arms as he carries her the rest of the way to the ship. The door closes behind them as they board and the force of the lift-off sends Drax flying backwards, he shifts Matjiga to lay against in before he slams against the metal. The tiger fearfully grabs his shoulder and buries her head into his chest, almost scared of being torn away from the other until the force from take-off leaves the two. Matjiga slowly looks up, meeting eyes with her hero and becoming lost in the pools of pure sapphire. She's at a loss for words until she realizes the awkward position they are in and quickly rolls off of the man.

"I-I'm sorry." She murmurs as she crawls off him, sitting beside him with her back flush against the wall and drawing her knees to her chest.

"And who might you be?" Matjiga glances up to find the furry creature called Rocket from before speaking to her, coming to eye-level with the other as he approaches. "We thought that was a cargo ship from Thanos's fleet, not a passenger vessel."

The tiger's gaze falls to the floor as her body seems to tense up, the familiar sting of bitter tears biting at the corners of her eyes. "I suppose because I'm no different from precious cargo to Thanos." She swallows thickly as she looks back up at the three before her. "My name is Matjiga but he called me his…Scarlet Dream."

"Matjiga?" The voice has a familiar hum to it as the tiger looks up to meet eyes with the female, unsure of how she didn't recognize her before as she approaches and kneels beside Rocket. "I thought I recognized you but I wasn't too sure at the time."

"G-Gamora?" The wildcat gasps. "What are you doing here? Last I heard, you turned traitor against Thanos and your sister was sent to help kill you. I thought for sure I'd never see you again if he had it his way."

"I managed to make it out alive alongside my friends here." Gamora explains. "What were you doing on one of Thanos's ships?" Matjiga buries her face in her knees as her body begins to tremble, the other placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. You're safe from him now, you can relax."

"You know this girl, Gamora?" The male human inquires as he emerges from a narrow stair ladder leading likely to the pilot bay.

"Yes, it's a long story but we'll discuss that later." Gamora sighs. "For now, she needs to rest. She's been through a lot these past few months." She climbs to her feet and turns to the male. "Peter, do you have any spare clothes around here that haven't been used recently? I want to get her into something more comfortable."

"Sure," Peter says hesitantly "I'll see what I can scrounge together."

"It doesn't have to be nice, just something for her to wear until we get to the next planet to get her an outfit she can travel in." Gamora informs him then turns and offers a hand to the tiger. "C'mon, Matjiga, I'll show you to my quarters so you can lie down for a bit." The tiger looks up at her with wet eyes then shakily takes the hand being offered to her. The two walk out of the main room into the small personal quarters that seems clearly like Gamora's with how orderly it is in comparison to the rest of the ship. The green female prompts the feline to sit on the bed and joins her side once the tiger kicks her shoes off and lets her hair down from the high pig tails. "Do you want to explain what's happened since we last met?"

"Can you get these things off me first?" Matjiga sighs, holding her hands up to reveal the two small black bands around her wrists. "He's been suppressing my powers with these things, otherwise that whole ship would've been torn apart already."

"I'll have Rocket get to work on getting those off as soon as I get you out of that dress." Gamora says. "Why are you wearing that thing anyway? I thought you hated dresses."

"I'd rather not talk about it. Just take this damn thing and burn it with the rest of the trash on this ship. I don't want to set eyes on it ever again after today." Matjiga mutters, already tugging the dress up around her head. A sudden knock on the door spooks the tiger as she covers herself with the dress.

Gamora quickly walks to the door, cracking it open just enough to speak to the person on the other side and take something before quickly closing it again and coming but with a pile of crumpled clothes. "Here, I know they aren't your usual battle attire but they'll at least work until we can get you a proper battle outfit." The tiger nods and takes the pile as she tosses the dress away, slipping on the baggy blue two-toned shirt. "Let me ask this at least: Was this all Thanos's doing?"

The tiger pauses as she slips on the baggy brown shorts, her eyes falling to the floor as she pulls them up then plops onto the bed. "It's not as if I had any choice in the matter." Gamora joins her on the bed.

"How did you end up being a pawn of Thanos?"

"I" Matjiga pauses, glances away as her eyes begin to water. "Can we not talk about this right now? I need to sleep without thinking of that bastard."

Gamora sighs and places a hand on the other's shoulder. "Alright, I won't pressure you to talk right now but we will have to sit down and discuss a few things eventually. Okay?" The tiger nods and Gamora stands from the bed. "You lie down now while I go talk to the others." Matjiga moves to lay down as Gamora quietly leaves the room, exiting back out into the main part of the ship where her teammates wait for her. Peter is the first to speak up.

"Alright, Gamora, you wanna explain how you happen to know a random cat girl we found on one of Thanos's ships?"

Gamora sighs as she crosses her arms, looking away as she speaks. "She's not just a "catgirl", Peter. She's a Scarletmark, a member of an almost extinct race of wildcat humanoids known as the Yairian."

"Yeah, I remember them." Rocket ponders aloud. "They had their own planet and everything before Thanos came along to try and claim it for himself. He decimated the place but enough of the locals got away and hid until Nova Corp arrived to help them begin to rebuild. There was a lot of casualties across all the races and some members that left came back to aid their home planet. It was all over the galactic news at the time but that was sixteen years ago."

"And I know her from my time serving under Thanos." Gamora continues. "I won't get into the details of how or why but I ran into her plenty of times in the past. I'm not sure how she ended up under Thanos's control but I have an idea behind the why at least."

"Would you care to let us know?" Rocket inquires.

"Yes, once I talk to her about it personally. I want to confirm my suspicions before I bring anything out into the open. Whatever Thanos put her through, I don't want to stir up potential memories of again. I know from personal experience that the bastard can be cruel as they come." Gamora states. "Until then, I don't want you guys probing her for any information. She's obviously been through a lot and I don't need anyone overloading her with questions. However, Rocket, she does need to see you about those braces on her wrists. They're suppressing her powers and she wants them off as soon as possible. Once she's awake, I'll have her come see you about removing them."

"Powers? What kind of powers?" Peter asks.

"I've only seen her demonstrate them once. She's a strong telekinetic, able to push men as big as Thanos off their feet and supposedly, split objects as large as planets in half. She's not a significant danger to us and she'll make for a useful ally in future battles." Gamora elaborates.

"She can fight?" Rocket gasps. "I'm surprised. I thought we just had another damsel-in-distress or something."

"She's a very capable fighter when she wants to be but again, leave her be for now." Gamora states. "Let's focus on getting to the next moderately civilized planet and work on getting her comfortable around us. She'll be traveling with us for quite a while."

"You mean like "hitching a ride" while or "joining the team" while?" Peter inquires.

"She might be willing to join us but I won't say for sure. It'll be up to her." Gamora states.

"But she is otherwise well?" Drax's voice surprises everyone, finding he hasn't moved from his spot since he returned to the ship. "Should that not be the primary concern is her well-being? If she was unwillingly under Thanos, surely he had some way to exert control over her to keep her obedient."

"I wouldn't use "well" to describe her entire condition right now." Gamora says. "Physically she's fine as far as I saw, no obvious bruises or signs of extensive abuse, but mentally even I can't be sure. Something has obviously happened to her between when I last saw her and now. She's much different from the Scarletclaw I knew before I met you boys."

"Scarletclaw? Is that a code name or something?" Rocket asks. "She's not some secret operative for the Nova Corp, is she?"

"No. It was her name under her old master before Thanos got his hands on her." Gamora sighs, looking away and biting her lip as she ponders quietly before shifting to look back at Drax. "But she should be fine given enough time, just don't give her any pressure. Alright?"

Drax nods then slowly climbs to his feet. "Alright. I shall go rest myself then. Wake me when we reach our next stop." He walks back to his quarters, finding himself stopping before Gamora's room. He looks back to ensure no one is watching him then quietly opens the door. As he steps inside the dark room, the only thing lit seems to be a small light beside the bed where Matjiga is peacefully sleeping. The warrior cautiously approaches and sits on the side of the bed, careful not to wake her and quietly watches her sleep for a few moments. His eyes shift to the black bands on her wrist, wondering what kind of power is being held back by such small simple garments. He reaches to touch the band on the arm wedge under the tiger's head but stops when the other unconsciously rubs against his hand, purring deeply as her face fits well against his palm. He silently waits as the feline continues rubbing against his hand until she settles down against her arm, his hand ending up on top of her head. He carefully runs his fingers through her hair as his palm grazes her ear. She murmurs a name under her breath when he does this and he barely catches it. He repeats the motion and the name comes out a bit clearer but still mumbled. One more scratch along the ear and he finally hears the name being called out.

"Ro…please come back for me."

Drax ponders who that name could belong to as he rests his hand on the wildcat's shoulder. This Ro was a significant person in her life to be calling out to him in her sleep, but how so? Was it an old friend, a prior love, perhaps a former master? He recalls what Gamora had said before, how Matjiga had a master before Thanos that called her Scarletclaw. Perhaps they were who she was calling out to, someone she trusted and cared deeply for before being torn away from them by the greedy titan. He glances towards the feline as she peacefully sleeps.

"Don't worry, Scarletmark. I'll find out what happened to your master." Drax whispers as her gently scratches the tiger behind her ear. "If he's alive, we'll reunite him with you. If not, we'll help you avenge him. I promise."


End file.
